Protoype Presentation

Slide One

A Note of the Mystic Writing Pad


Slide Two


My project initiated with a quote where Freud suggested,

..."One can think of the wax slab as being like the unconscious, and the fleeting images that appear when the outside world intrudes by way of the stylus, could be the consciousness. The temptation is then to imagine that when we pull the slide across the screen the image will disappear forever, as if when you leave a gallery the images can be evacuated from the mind and then conveniently replaced with perceptions of tea and cakes in the cafeteria.

As Freud pointed out, however, the impressions made by the stylus remain on the wax; pull away the protective screen and the paper behind it, and you will see the indentations, ripples of the history of the wax made from marks upon marks that press into a bumpy mess. And a consequence of this uneven surface is that whenever a line is drawn on the cellophane, the history of past impressions is present in the gaps; in these imperfections of consciousness there is, every time, the unconscious..." (Parker, 2006)

Throughout my context report I tried to examine Freud’s view that the history of our “past impressions is present in the gaps, and in these imperfections of consciousness there is every time, the unconscious”. The idea that nothing is ever lost forever, past narratives are always present in those voids. This naturally led to the further investigation of preservation, layers and compression. Where I wanted to expand this exploration for further analysis, by addressing the design possibilities within instilling a sense of value into a past moment.

By addressing the concept of preservation, the theory of time acting as a catalyst for this to
Break down, became captivating. The question of whether we can archive indefinitely, lead
To the further development of each layers significance. I became interested in whether
We can instill a sense of value into something that has already passed. Can we interrogate this memory for eternity? Through the means of our senses can something be designed so
That the value of a moment cannot be lost? Can a design capture the wealth of an object through its decay, rather than this being a negative accumulation?

Slide Three

This lead me to start thinking about how we record memories and how the accumulation of this can lead to decay through its build up. I started to investigate how you can document an event and how through its accumulation it creates an ambiguous, personal outcome. I carried out a series of prototypes one being that,

I wanted to document an event through sound, however look at its build up and accumulation over the whole of event. I got two tape players, one which records whilst the other is playing. The tape itself is on a loop so it continually is growing and adding to what has already been recorded. You ultimately end up with one recording, which is personal to that event. The tape is a layered record of the event, so to some it may be illegible, but for me I would recognize voices, stories and through this I can have a compressed volume of that memory.

Slide Four

I started to experiment with this concept, that through layering the recording device you ultimately end up with a compressed outcome. One that can be viewed as a whole. I decided to develop this concept by looking at the video camera. This is where a video camera is looped to a tv where you can watch what happened five minutes ago, whilst being recorded in the present time. Over the days accumulation, in the studio you are able to see the movements and navigation of the space. This is another example of how the event is layered up, so you begin to see the traces through time, and not just one still image. It could be considered to be a clearer view into that day or moment.

A similar principal was applied to an SLR camera, where I became captivated by the idea of having a camera with a singular film that was on a loop. The concept being that you could take it on holiday and have one film where each picture had been taken on top of another. Illustrating a compressed memory of an event. However as each photo was being over exposed it ultimately did not work, as the decay was to rapid.

An exploration of layers and their compression was something I addressed in my context report. I demonstrated this concept through a memory that I have of my own. When I was younger I remember being read the story ‘Goldilocks and the three bears’, however my memory ha merged as both parents, grandparents older siblings read it to me. I therefore recorded them all reading the story to me again, however this time I compiled the voices so that they could play at once. I ended up with what you could call a lullaby of that fairytale. The individual words have been lost and I’m just left with the comforting sounds of my past.

Slide Five

I had a tutorial and we established that these objects without a context of an event where perhaps useless. However through them I should establish what is repeated and lost through the accumulation of the recording. It became obvious that there was a direct link between an event and that, which was recorded. Dennis Wood in his book ‘Map Making’ said “They make present – they represent- the accumulated through and labour of the past…about the milieu we simultaneously live in and collaborate on bringing being. In so doing they enable the past to become part of our living, now here”. This was explained to me to be like if you were to see a car moving in a space and then where to take a picture that was over exposed you could see where that car had been through the space. This lead to the idea that by capturing an event and understanding the context in which a certain input is repeated in order to give you an ambiguous memory. Which begs the question can you alter the time or a moment and then return to it?

Through my tutorial I established there were three main areas to my project that needed to be investigated,

1. The preparation to saviour /…the idea that you intend to capture the moment.
2. The moment itself …can this be stretched?
3. The ambiguity of the memory… the difference between a grainy photo and a high definition video.

The focal points to take forward are the importance of loss, the importance of forgetting and the ambiguity that this in turn gives. Inducing the question is there a way to savour a moment?

Slide Six

I then started to question what are these moments we choose to remember and what are the devices in which we already remember them, for example through photographs and videos. I also began to appreciate the difference between the suspense of that moment and the moment itself. This is a video of Emily opening a present, which demonstrates the complete contrast emotion through realisation. Through studying the event it became transparent that we choose those moments that we want to record. We have complete control over how we want to remember that moment indefinitely. However I started to question whether this in fact would give a false record of that memory, and what if we had no control over the recorded outcome…. would this in turn give a clearer reading of that memory?

Slide Seven

One prototype that I chose to demonstrate this with was a camera where I swapped the record and stop buttons over. This meant that when you wanted to record a moment you in fact stopped the camera from recording. The idea being that perhaps you got a clearer insight into the event. Are those moments more precious than those that are caught on camera. Do we remember the photograph of the event itself?

Slide Eight


I created a similar prototype however this time I did it with a digital voice-recording device.

Slide Nine

I also wanted to play with the perfection element of a camera, in order to really see an event for what it was. I thought if perhaps it was to capture these ‘ moments’ before or even after they had been chosen to be captured then you may be able to see this event for its true colours. So I changed the camera so that when you clicked to take a photo the camera randomly did it 2-5 seconds later. Perhaps here you catch the real ‘moment’, not the staged frontage.

Slide Ten

Decay of the moment

Slide Eleven


Although it was important for me to find a context for these ‘moments’ that I wanted to record I also became interested with those memories that already existed through physical means. Those memories that we have already got collections of, I began to question whether there was an area to develop. This lead to a series of prototypes where I looked at how a photograph can replace a memory if we continually look at it. I wanted to see whether we could in fact return the power to the memory so it was controlled by a physical object.

I decided to look at creating this ambiguity and instil it into our existing collections. I became fascinated with the idea that a photo can slowly loose its resolution, so becomes more ambiguous. It is relevant to the user still, but allows them to remember the memory through the memory rather than the image. This could be demonstrated through a website that people can upload there images and watch them decay over years.

Slide Twelve

A physical representation of this decay is demonstrated through a zoetrope I made, which when you spin it makes the image go blurry and fade, showing the ambiguous nature of each memory.
I also liked the idea that you can take the physical representation of how we display our memories and instil a similar principal into the object.
Slide Thirteen


I also liked the idea that you can take the physical representation of how we display our memories and instil a similar principal into the object. Taking in this case the photo frame, which has an abrasive background which slowly, degrades the quality of the photograph. Creating the ambiguity of a memory.


Slide Fourteen

I have tried to illustrate through a prototype of a photo album of how it can have a similar abrasive covering, allowing the photos to decay.

Slide Fifteen / Sixteen

Another way in which memories are stored are through music and digital devices. A simple prototype I made was a series of cases in which they solely abrasive the surface of the device…over time making it more ambiguous when played.

Slide Seventeen

Another place in which we store memories is through our jewelry and I tried to explore this by again applying an abrasive finishing to the locket, so that over a period of years the photo decays, yet you still have that memory.

Slide Eighteen


I decided that the memory of something can be more interesting that the thing or the artefact itself. As the artefact could be considered as the controlling factor of our memory.

I began to question whether something can be designed so that that moment we want to remember, we can’t through the physical object. Meaning that our memory has to identify with that moment itself. I have designed a device that records an event and that moment that we all typically want to remember, we can’t as the machine stops recording. I have tried to illustrate this through a film of birthday. The moment that we typically take a photo of is the blowing out of the candles, but in this case the device stops recording…so that in the future we have the power to remember that moment without having the controlling factor of a picture. Allowing or even forcing your memory to remember. In praise of what the memory can do.

This is the area where I intend to direct my project in the forthcoming weeks..